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Strange Days
Batman disrupts a police operation to gain intelligence on The Fish, pissing off Sergeant Max Cort. After his near-defeat at Batman's hands, Hugo became infatuated with the mythic figure. Seeking both to understand and to obliterate his newfound foe, Strange pulled strings to gain a seat on a talk show with Mayor Wilson Klass and police Captain James Gordon to address the benefit of The Batman, in wake of the Joker crisis. Strange postulates that the Batman is a product of trauma, and uses the costume and violence to give him a sense of power over others and his reality. Klass agrees, but Gordon argues that Batman is a hero, honestly trying to help his city, and that he wears the costume to intimidate criminals. Klass calls for a vigilante task force, and appoints Strange as a consultant, as well as giving him full access to police records, which he will use in his work in determining the Batman's identity (GORDON MUST BURN FILES FROM THE BOUNTY) Under Strange's influence, Klass puts together the task force, and in an attempt to dissuade its progress, Gordon has it headed by unstable and violent, though clean cop Max Cort. However, Cort is successful after appointing cops not approved by Gordon, and his force corner Batman in a face off with Fish, allowing Fish to escape. At this time, both out of mania and study, Strange begins dressing as the Batman, to understand his power. At this time, The RIDDLER'S BLIMP FIRST APPEARS Gordon hides equipment Batman lost in battle, and tells Batman he can't keep covering for him. The hero must improve his public relations or they could end up in conflict. Batman evades police further, capturing Fish, and offers him to Cort in broad daylight to make peace. This instead infuriates Cort. Meanwhile, the showman Strange has gained even more talk show and radio appearances, and even a lecture-rally, gaining much momentum in Gotham. In order to help turn the entirety of the police force against Batman, Strange hypnotizes Cort into becoming a more violent vigilante, Night-Scourge, who believes himself to be better than the Batman. Strange then has Cort dress as the Batman and kidnap Catherine, pushing Klass to force Gordon to capture Batman within 48 hours. Batman confronts Strange in his apartment, where Strange gains an upper hand with his deduction that Batman lost his parents to murder. In escaping from Strange, Batman is attacked by civilians who have turned against him. He neutralizes them, but is harrowed by their reception. Returning to Wayne Manor, Batman finds Alfred unconscious and his parents' faces torn out of the family portrait. Bruce spends the night in mania in the Batcave, wondering if he is doing justice to the legacy of his parents or if he's only seeking satisfaction through power. Riddler (BTAS debut?) Regaining his resolve, Bruce returns to Strange's penthouse to find him in his Batman costume. Batman correctly deduces that Max Cort has been the puppet dressing as Night Scourge and The Batman, though Strange is clever, retorting, "Are you attempting to dupe me into implicating myself into masterminding a crime I had no part in? So you can record it, perhaps? It is very well possible that Cort... Riddler wrap up duuududududu kidnaps the mayor's daughter. Infatuation thing. persuades Max Cort to become Night-Scourge. Then to become Batman. None of it traces back to him. Uses Max's apartment to keep Katherine. On Batman's vulnerability: When we see younger Batman without Robin or other, we see more of a vulnerability to his character. He's young and still learning the ropes. But when he gets sidekicks, he must steel this away, the way a parent does, trying to set an example, and unintentionally seeming invulnerable and sometimes inaccessible in the process. What is Alfred's early understanding of the youth? Doctor Saperstein Max Ratt